An interplanetary mining company is contracted by the government to pluck resources from a distant earth-like planet called Poseidon.  It is a three year journey to Poseidon, a deadly rock that is home to acid spitting serpents and gigantic mastodon beasts.

WRITTEN BY: Mike Richardson, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko
ART BY: Fernando Baldó
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: July 30, 2014

Reviewed By Epic Switzer

The story begins with a tri-yearly rotation as a new group of workers, soldiers, and scientists arrive and the former group cycles out.  We are introduced to many characters and vague references are made towards their established relationships; just enough to be intriguing.  Ultimately it is revealed that some one is set on sabotaging the entire operation without any regard for human life.  “Deep Gravity” #1 is an imaginative sci-fi mystery that is both smart and accessible.

This book is misleading when it starts:  There is a full page of prose that setup Maelstrom Science and Technology Corp, the planet Poseidon, and provide a definition for gravity wells and deep gravity.  Right of the bat I thought I was going to be in for something dense with a lot of jargon and entities to keep up with.  Thankfully, I found “Deep Gravity” #1 to be really accessible.  At its heart this is a character story, albeit amidst an alien setting with a somewhat complicated premise.  Like any good book, however, the emotional complexity of the characters is what really shines through.

The protagonist, Paxon, is hung up on an ex-girlfriend.  So much so that he travels to Poseidon three years away just to get some closure from her.  Michelle, the ex in question, is not impressed by this gesture, as she has been subject to the harsh conditions on Poseidon for three years and is dealing with collecting man eating aliens to bring back to Earth for research.  This is the central conflict the drives the first issue.  The play between Paxon and Michelle is interesting to say the least, and discovering more about their relationship will certainly be a major driving force for the book.

Surrounding this conflicted couple is a hellish alien world for us to slowly discover.  The beasts are interesting and deadly, and the operation put together to combat/capture is well thought out.  On Poseidon, the gravity is much higher than on Earth, thus making humans weaker, less coordinated, and easily exhausted.  This clever details adds a lot to the threat and anxiety in the book.

This first issue packs a ton of story in while introducing readers to a brand new world.  The hook at the end will keep you coming back for more.  Even though I don’t typically read sci-fi, I enjoy a well plotted mystery and interesting relationships.  As an added bonus, the aliens are majorly cool.  I hate to gloss over the art as much as I do, but I found it to be effective without being distracting and entirely appropriate for the genre.  Dark Horse doesn’t do a ton of new IPs these days, so I found “Deep Gravity” to be a fun and refreshing read.

Epic Switzer AKA Eric is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles.  His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality.  He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com.